Making Films

Filmmaker and political activist Rory Kennedy talks with The Independent about her latest documentary Thank You Mr. President: Helen Thomas at the White House about influential political journalist Helen Thomas. The film premieres on HBO on August 18th with additional airings throughout the month.

Tourists flock in hoards to experience the literature, theatre, tango, and art of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Film can now be added to the list. Yet even with increased financial support from the Argentine government, Argentine-made films, particularly the indies, are struggling to find an audience big enough to sustain the industry. Kim Winternheimer reports on the latest developments for Argentine films both home and abroad.

Legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog once said in an interview that he believed the best way to become a filmmaker would be to go on a long walk -- say, from Madrid to Kiev. So Lee Kazimir took his advice literally. His journey resulted in his first feature documentary, More Shoes (see the trailer). As the film makes its way through the festival circuit, Lee stop to talk with The Independent about the film and the people he met along his journey.

Jason Rosette made two films in the U.S.—Bookwars and Susan Hero—before moving to Southeast Asia. His original plan was to travel a bit and learn how to teach English as a second language. But on a stopover in Cambodia, Rosette found himself infatuated with the country and its people. And since the once-troubled nation lost a generation of artists and journalists, he also saw an opportunity and even a responsibility to put his media-making skills to good use. So he organized a film festival and started a production company that works for a number of NGOs. He chronicles his work in this first journal entry for The Independent.

Directors Andrea Kalin and Bill Duke certainly had their work cut out for them when they teamed up to film Prince Among Slaves (watch the trailer), a film that aired recently on PBS. The film tells the story of Abdul Rahman Ibrihima, a Muslim prince who was captured by slave traders in Africa, and sold to the owner of a Mississippi plantation. Recreating the story involved scouting locations, casting the prince, renting a schooner, and scrupulously researching the historical record. Kalin discusses the making of the film with The Independent's Mike Hofman.

The 5th Bangkok Experimental Film Festival kicks off in March at a time when the work of Thai directors such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Thunska Pansittivorakul is gaining worldwide acclaim. But even as Thai independent cinema reaches a creative pinnacle, it finds itself bumping up against serious new censorship at home. The Independent's Denise Burrell-Stinson recently travelled to Southeast Asia, and files this report. You can view a clip from Sud pralad (Tropical Malady), and trailers for Sud sanaeha (Blissfully Yours) and Sang sattawat (Syndromes and a Century), Weerasethakul's censored film, on our Watch page.

How do you make a compelling and funny narrative out of a subject as seemingly banal as food? As Erica Bernstein reports, documentarian Aaron Woolf's solution was to give two young friends $5,000, send them to Iowa, and tell them not to leave until they found a good story (or ran out of money). The result of this experiment is a smart, inventive, and visually stunning film called King Corn, which continues to open in theatres in selected cities across the country this December. To view the trailer, visit our "Watch" page.

In the second installment of this monthly feature, the Doc Doctor Fernanda Rossi presents a case study of Rock and a Heart Place. The documentary features more than 400 volunteers who band together each Christmas to give the greatest gift: joy to the forgotten of society, the homeless, senior citizens, and the disabled of their neighborhood. The volunteers are pictured at left, and as part of our banner photo, above. To view the film's trailer, head over to our "Watch" page.

Mark Ruppert and Liz Langston, the founders of the 48 Hour Film Project, have developed a legion of devoted fans who churn out shockingly clever short films in shockingly short periods of time. Having expanded from Tulsa to Tel Aviv, the question is this: Can the partners find a way to pay the bills without selling out? The clock is ticking.... Nadine Heintz reports. (The photograph at left is of the crew of Maestro Percival, a prize-winning short that came out of the 48 Hour Film Project in Baltimore.)

Todd Solondz protegée Hope Dickson Leach has set several of her films at British boarding schools. Having attended one herself, she says a boarding school is an interesting venue for a film because it is a "strange and terrible place." As Leach works on her first feature English Rose (set where else?), The Independent's Mariel Lynn DiSibio talks with her about why her educational experience has followed her from project to project as a focal point.